When I decided to stop using Teflon-coated bakeware, I found that it actually wasn’t at all difficult to do without. All you have to do is grease your pans with oil or butter. All of my bakeware is now tempered glass (Pyrex and Anchor), ceramic (Corningware, which is the same company as Pyrex), stainless steel, or anodized aluminum/ aluminum alloy. Some folks avoid aluminum bakeware. From what I’ve read, anodized aluminum is safe, and I’m not convinced that my aluminum alloy bakeware is dangerous enough that it needs to be immediately replaced. When I do replace my aluminum bakeware, I will probably replace it with stainless steel.

I bake bread, cakes and brownies in tempered glass that has been buttered and floured. I love baking in glass because you can observe the browning of your food and stick the pan straight in the dishwasher after baking. I also bake meat and casseroles in glass or ceramic pans. The only downside to glass and ceramic is that I have to store it up high so that my kids don’t break it. My sheet pans, pizza pans and muffin tins are steel or aluminum. I sometimes grease them with canola oil or olive oil (using a Misto sprayer). They clean up very easily and require no special care. I often put my smaller stainless steel jelly roll pan through the dishwasher.

COOKWARE

Replacing all of your Teflon cookware can be considerably more challenging and frustrating than getting rid of your nonstick bakeware, as there are certain foods that really do require a nonstick surface. You can read the gory details of my search for a replacement for my 10” Teflon skillet in this post. Now all of my cookware is made of stainless steel, seasoned cast iron, or enameled cast iron. Below, I discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different types of Teflon-free cookware in terms of cost, usage, and care.

Stainless steel

Budget-friendly? Yes. Stainless-steel is relatively inexpensive, unless you buy All-Clad. Still, quality does make a difference, so I would check ratings and not just buy whatever is cheapest or on sale. We own a set of Cuisinart Chef's Classic Stainless Steel Skillets and Pots, a relatively affordable brand which I bought based on Cook’s Illustrated’s recommendation. My 17-piece set cost less than $200.

Uses: Good news! You can use stainless steels pots and pans for all kinds of things you have been cooking in nonstick cookware. Before I got rid of all my Teflon pots and pans, I started experimenting with using stainless steel for all kinds of recipes that called for a “non-stick pan.” I find that stainless steel skillets and pots work great for browning ground meat, tomato-based sauces, sautéing or steaming vegetables, browning a quesadilla or frying a grilled cheese sandwich, braising meats, cooking grains like rice, couscous, or quinoa, or making brothy soups. All with minimal sticking, as long as you use a little oil or butter. Make sure you buy stainless steel skillets that can go right in the oven (no plastic handles), as I find this often comes in handy. I also love our stainless steel pressure cooker for making beans from scratch (no more BPA from canned beans!). I find coated pots completely unnecessary. I use my stainless steel pots for all my pot needs with the exception of recipes (like some stews) that involve searing meat. For these dishes I use an enameled cast iron dutch oven.

However, three things that have never worked for me in stainless steel skillets or pots: eggs, tofu, and searing meat and fish. I know they say if you preheat the pan well and get it hot enough your eggs will not stick. Believe me. I know how to preheat a pan. While I can pull off fried eggs with enough fat in the skillet, I have never been able to make scrambled eggs in a stainless steel pan without a big mess. I also have had bad luck with frying tofu and searing meat (even with plenty of oil and high heat). You might have better luck than I have had with stainless steel if you invest in a nicer set, like All-Clad.

Care and clean up: Stainless steel requires no special care. I stack mine dirty in the sink with wild abandon. It is also usually very easy to clean up with a little soapy hot water. Even if food gets majorly stuck to your stainless steel, I find it is not too bad to clean. Of course, you can soak it. I often put a little water (or vinegar, if I burnt food on very badly) in the pan while it is still hot. For tough stains, Bon-Ami works really well. A lot of stainless steel cookware is even dishwasher safe, although I personally choose not to clean mine this way.

Enameled cast iron on the left, pre-seasoned cast iron on the right.
I use both simultaneously to make large batches of pancakes.

Pre-seasoned Cast Iron

Budget-friendly? Yes! Yes! Yes! Pre-seasoned cast iron is about the most budget-friendly cookware out there. I have only ever used the Lodge Logic brand of pre-seasoned cast iron. It is very inexpensive, made in the USA, and widely available. You can buy a skillet or griddle for less than $20. “Pre-seasoned” means the cast iron comes to you with a layer of “seasoning” already applied by the manufacturer. Unseasoned iron is more of a grayish color and readily rusts. According to Lodge Logic, this “pre-seasoning” (the bumpy black stuff all over the inside and outside of the pan) is made of vegetable oil. As you cook with your cast iron pan, the fat you use will contribute to the seasoning as well. The seasoning is what makes the pan non-stick.

Uses: Seasoned cast iron is the original non-stick. If you have a beautiful heavy cast iron pan passed down from your grandmother, with decades of use with oil, butter, lard and other fat creating a gorgeous mirror-surface seasoning, you may find that it works just as well as your favorite Teflon pan. However, the bumpy “pre-seasoned” surface that comes on most cast iron pan these days I find is not as nonstick as Teflon. I use my pre-seasoned cast iron for pancakes, quesadillas, toasting bread, and the like. I do not use it for egg dishes, tofu, or searing meat or fish. While you can often make these foods work in pre-seasoned cast iron, if it doesn’t work, you face a bit of a dilemma: how to get the food off without ruining your seasoning (see below). In addition, when your food sticks to the pan, it also often means that the seasoning has stuck to your food (as in, black spots on your scrambled eggs where the seasoning has come off of the pan onto your food). I have not found a consensus on whether or not it is OK to prepare acidic foods (like tomato sauce) in cast iron. Some folks say this is a great idea as it pulls some iron from the pan into your food and makes for a great source of iron in your diet. But if your seasoning is not really well-established, I would worry about acidic foods screwing up the seasoning.

Care and clean up: Cast iron has a number of down sides in the care and clean up department. In fact, I refer to cast iron as “high maintenance.” First, you need to be sure you preheat the pan slowly. Cast iron heats up much more slowly than stainless steel or other pans but then retains the heat much better and longer. With a long preheat, my cast iron gets piping hot (as in, water drops sizzle and dance in the oil) on a 3 or 4 on my electric range (I boil water in my stainless steel pots at 7 or 8, just as a reference point). For those accustomed to using Teflon, it can be tough to adjust to the patience cast iron requires. Whenever I make something in cast iron, I turn on the pan to low with a little oil in it before I begin mixing the pancake batter or scrambled eggs, because preheating the pan generally takes longer than any other aspect of the food preparation.

Also, cast iron is very heavy, which makes both cooking with it and cleaning it more challenging than dealing with stainless steel.

Second, if cast iron is wet for any period of time it will rust. You have to dry it immediately after cleaning it and keep it dry. I would never leave it in the sink. If you stack another slightly wet dish on top of it, it will probably rust and require re-seasoning. For those of us who sometimes do not get to the dishes right away, this can be a real challenge. We have gotten in the habit of just leaving the cast iron on the stovetop dirty until we clean it and never stacking any other dirty dishes on top of it. You also need to put a towel or cork pad between your clean cast iron pan and anything you might store on top of it to avoid damaging the seasoning.

Third, clean up often poses a dilemma. If food does not stick to the pan, clean up is a breeze. I usually scrape off any food with a very thin silicone spatula or scrub with a nylon brush in combination with hot water to clean up my cast iron. I almost never use soap as it tends to pull off the seasoning (unless you have a very well-established seasoning on your pan). I also avoid using cast iron for foods with strong flavors (like fish), because that would be hard to remove without soap. If food does stick to your cast iron, you are in a bit of a bind. You can’t soak it in water except very briefly as this promotes rusting (I never soak). Vigorous scrubbing and soapy water will tend to pull off your seasoning which means you will possibly have even more sticking the next time you use it. You can re-season your cast iron pan if it rusts or the seasoning gets removed, but there is a dizzying array of contradictory instructions on the best way to do this (what temperature, how long, what oil) which I found very confusing, and almost all methods will require that you have your oven on for hours and hours while your whole house fills with the smell of burning oil. I detailed my numerous gripes with pre-seasoned cast iron here. Bottom line: avoid getting food stuck on your cast iron at all costs.

[Update 9.12.2015]
Ruining the seasoning on your preseasoned cast iron skillet is not the end of the world, as I once believed it was (I have re-seasoned my own pans using this method recommended by Lodge Logic and it was relatively painless), but it does require some time and attention. Bottom line: avoid getting food stuck on your cast iron, but don't throw out your pan if you ruin the seasoning.

My enameled cast iron skillet (with naan).

Enameled Cast Iron

Budget-friendly? Maybe. It tends to cost more than stainless steel. And like stainless steel, you can buy more or less expensive enameled cast iron. Lodge Logic as well as other brands make relatively inexpensive enameled cast iron. Again, I would check the ratings on this one, and go with a brand you trust, as you would like the enamel to be made of disclosed and non-toxic materials. After a lot of frustration with pre-seasoned cast iron, I opted for top-of-the-line enameled cast iron: Le Creuset. I purchased one Le Creuset enameled cast iron 11” skillet. I use it almost every day. I expect it to last forever (it comes with a lifetime guarantee). Although this one skillet cost over $100, my husband likes to point out that the three pre-seasoned cast iron skillets I bought (in a burst of enthusiasm) cost more than half my Le Creuset skillet. And now, only my pre-seasoned griddle is used regularly (I gave one away and use the other only occasionally). It doesn’t pay to buy inexpensive pans you aren’t going to use.

Uses: You can use your enameled cast iron for anything. If a stainless steel skillet will get the job done, I use stainless steel. Mostly just to keep my enameled cast iron available for other things. For any dish that requires nonstick properties or great heat retention, I always use my enameled cast iron. I use my Le Creuset skillet for scrambled eggs, fried eggs, pancakes, french toast, stir fry with fried tofu, fried rice with fried tofu, black bean burgers, hamburgers and turkey burgers, seared chicken and meat, delicate fish, and homemade naan. I love love love it. I also have a much less expensive Tramontina enameled cast iron dutch oven and it works really well for all kinds of soups and stews, as well as searing meat.

Care and clean up: Enameled cast iron is mildly high maintenance. Because it is cast iron, it needs to be preheated slowly and never put over very high heat (I never go higher than 3 or 4 on my stove top). Never heat the pan empty. You also want to take care to not damage the enamel. Put a towel or cork circle on top of the skillet before stacking anything else. Don’t stack other dishes straight on top of it on the counter or in the sink. We just always leave our Le Creuset skillet on the stove (not the sink) until we are ready to clean it. On the other hand, enameled cast iron is very easy to clean up. Easier than stainless steel, I would say. You can soak it, no problem. If any food sticks to the pan, I just put a little water in the skillet while it is still hot, and usually any food comes right off by the time I get around to cleaning it. Personally, I mostly use a silicone scraper or nylon brush in combination with hot soapy water to remove any food as you do want to make sure you don’t damage the finish. Cleaning my enameled cast iron pans always takes only a minute or two. One other consideration: like pre-seasoned cast iron, enameled cast iron is heavy. This is part of what makes it a great cookware, but it does make it a little more challenging to handle during cooking and cleaning.

19 comments:

I was lucky enough to get a complete set of glass bake ware when I got married. 17 years later I still use it. I also have found some old cast iron wear. Not my grandma's but definitely someone's and very nicely seasoned. Can you say loving it. But I still need to replace some of the pots,, and those are on my Christmas List.

What a great post-thank you! I have ditched all Teflon and use stainless steel, ceramic and glass pots and pans. I love my stainless steel. I invested in quality pans long ago and they are in great shape. If something sticks I let the pan soak overnight and by morning everything comes right off. I also learned a little trick from a comment on my blog-use aluminum foil crumpled up in a ball to clean a stainless pan. It works. Thanks for all the info.

I have almost completely stopped using Teflon pans. For a good while I had trouble with omelets in my cast iron, but I have found that if I make smaller omelets, with less eggs per omelet, and use a moderate amount of butter and let it be until is sets up I can pull it off. Hooray for cast iron! Good bye Teflon! I still use my electric skillet quite a bit. I cannot for the life of me cook stir fry in my stainless steel without botching up my whole dinner and my cast iron is too small.

Small Footprints - the truth is that even though the nice stainless steel pans and enameled cast iron skillets are much more expensive than the avg. Teflon pan, if you actually replace your Teflon pan every time it starts to peel, you'll be replacing every few years. Over a decade or two, you probably come out ahead skipping the cheap Teflon all together, right?

Oh, hello, Heidi! I hear you on the stir fry. I actually now make my stir fry using both my 12" stainless steel skillet (for the veggies), and my 11" enameled cast iron for the tofu/meat, and then I combine with sauce in a HUGE stainless steel bowl. Kind of a pain, but it works, and now I'm used to it. I never had an electric skillet, so I don't have to live w/o it -- I do love being able to use both my enameled cast iron and pre-seasoned cast iron at once to make 7-8 pancakes at a time -- esp. since I usually make a TRIPLE batch!

Friends, I watched Heidi (see comment above) make an omelet in her seasoned cast iron pan today with ZERO sticking, so it can be done. Heidi did say that the first few times she tried eggs in her pan, it was such a mess that she gave up for a while. But now she has it mastered. She told me she NEVER uses soap, just hot water to clean. Almost makes me want to go get those 2 cast iron skillets out of my garage and give them a whirl again.... or just give them to Heidi.

I use stainless steel bakeware from American Kitchen. It's affordable and made in the US! You can find it on Amazon.com.

I also use Pyrex and stainless steel cookware. I grew up with stainless steel cookware so I've never understood why people think it's so hard to deal with. I hated using non-stick because you can't use metal utensils and have to be careful when washing. It's so easy to care for stainless steel. If something is stuck on just soak it in hot soapy water.

I've been trying to figure out how to get rid of my Circulon skillet that I use sometimes when I'm in a hurry and want to make eggs without the delicate attention and/or loads of oil that eggs on stainless steel requires. So thanks for the tip that enameled iron works great for scrambled eggs!

I found that if I use lard or butter or coconut oil in my iron skillets I have very little trouble. I cook eggs in mine every day and never have a sticking problem. I think you just need to use, use, use your pans and the beautiful nonstick sheen will happen. There is something about using vegetable oil that just doesn't work well. I also will grease up my pans a bit and stick them in the oven when it is cooling down from cooking something. Either use those pans or give them to someone who needs them - the garage is a terrible place for them! ;o)

It's true, Christy. After writing this post, I passed along the skillets in the garage to a friend who was interested in trying cast iron. I also think it's interesting that you think butter/lard/coconut oil do more to build up the seasoning than veg oil. The problem (for me) was where to make my eggs while waiting for that terrific seasoning to build up.

So, I have what might be a silly question... when I looked at Le Creuset skillets, they're just enameled on the outside, but not on the inside... so wouldn't the eggs stick to that just like any other (not seasoned enough yet) cast iron? Or is there a brand that carries cast iron skillets that are enameled inside and out? I use my nonstick still for scrambled eggs because I can't figure out how else to do it. Maybe I need to just make shirred eggs in ramekins in the oven instead?

Le Creuset is enameled on both the OUTSIDE and INSIDE. Anything labeled as enameled cast iron has a layer of enamel over the cast iron on the interior cooking surface. My Le Creuset has a BLACK enamel on the inside, which I think I read can withstand higher temps than the white enamel. The colorful outside is also enamel, but a different type. Le Creuset describes their skillet this way: "durable satin black interior enamel and brilliant exterior enamel." I find the eggs less likely to stick to my enamel than the seasoned surface, but, more importantly, if they DO stick, you can clean it off easily without worrying about ruining the pan.

found your site recently, so i am looking at your archives. i decided to post for anyone who does the same. a little info. if you can't see what the big deal is about teflon, maybe i can help explain furthur. the gas that teflon puts off when heated is lethal to pet birds. LETHAL! we have lost many healthy birds mysteriously which i now belive was due to teflon poisoning. i have read stories of people baking bread in their bread machine with their parrot on their shoulder in the kitchen with them and the bird keeling over during the bake cycle. or baking cookies for a bake sale etc. so this is what you are breathing in while you are using your teflon. poisonous gas. no thank you. we have not had any birds die since i purged our house of teflon. that was over two years ago. i am still trying to replace everything and i may not be able to accomplish that. first i am a baker and i use a number of specialty pans. i know they must at some time have been made without teflon but i can't find one in paticular. a madeline pan. i did finally find a pottery bundt pan. my husband was quite upset over losing his electric skillet and waffle iron. i have replaced both of those. the skillet with a cast iron griddle that fits over two burners. being the nature of the beast that cast iron is, it pretty well heats up the entire griddle when placed on the heating units and given the time to heat up as betsy talks about above. my husband loves making pancakes and grilling sandwiches on it. you don't have to worry about the sides of a skillet when flipping things. the electric waffle iron was replaced by cast iron also. i found a cast iron waffle maker you use on a burner. you do have to flip it over as it only browns one side at a time, but it makes great waffles. now onto cleaning cast iron. it's the easiest thing to do. betsy, you may find yourself going out and buying some more when i tell you how. the secret ingredient will scrub off the most burned on mess and leave behind your seasoning. it is plain, ordinary salt. rinse your pan in hot water several times to get the top surface cleaned off. now just sprinkle salt over the pan, how much depends on how scumed up your pan is. then with a wet dish cloth scrub the pan. that sounds harder than it actually is. salt is a wonderful abbrasive. it is going to take you less time to clean your iron pans than your other pans. completely rinse in hot water and set on a burner. turn on heat. while you finish up the kitchen keep an eye on your pan. when all water is close to steaming off turn burner off. it will finish drying from the heat in the pan. now your pan is completely clean AND dry. no rust is going to get to it. it's ready for the next time you need it, which at our house usually means the next meal. i also make tomato sauces in my cast iron all the time and have no problem. i haven't found anything i won't do in cast iron on the stove. a lot of the times after the pan has heated up from drying i will spread a tin layer of vegetable oil on it with an old dish cloth i have set aside for this purpose. since the pan is hot it soaks it up right away.

I'm glad to know the salt cleaning method and cooking tomato sauce in cast iron have worked for you. I've tried salt, but maybe not enough, or maybe too much water b/c the salt just dissolved. Thank you for sharing all your cast iron expertise here!

Two tips for cast iron - 1. use the Lodge method, but use flaxseed oil. It has the lowest smoke point which means it creates the hardest polymer *seasoning." 2. Use A chainmail scrubber (under $20) which should easily remove most food without removing your seasoning (assuming you have a very hard polymer from flaxoil.).

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